Sermon “What Have you Left Undone?”

Even though walking away may feel nice, or perhaps like the easiest thing to do when confronted with choices, there are consequences for that. When we leave important things in life undone, our conscience becomes weighed down. I don’t think this man in the story just walked away, shook it off and forgot about it. It weighed him down for who knows how long. And these kinds of things can affect us for years; even when we are no longer consciously thinking about them. We can also become anxious because deep inside, no matter how young we may be right know, we all know that we aren’t getting any younger. We really don’t have all the time in the world. Keep in mind that I’m not talking about driving yourself to accomplish more and more and more in life. I’m talking about those key things in life that you know you’re supposed to be doing but you’re leaving undone. For myself, I know for a fact that I will die before I finish reading all of the books I would like to read and learning all of the subjects I want to learn! But lucky for me, God hasn’t called me to read or learn everything under the sun.

A harder consequence comes when our decision keeps us from living the higher life. I’m referring to spiritual things now, as in the case of the man in the story. It wasn’t a simple question he asked, such as where he should go to school. It was much bigger than that. And because he walked away, it cost him greatly in his understanding of God. Some decisions in life have much higher consequences than others. In his case, it was very high. The only positive for him was that he was young; so maybe he had some time to correct it, but as we read in the newspapers every day, years of more living are not guaranteed to us. All the more reason to move forward when we know we should. And a final consequence is that by continuing to put something off; we can get to the point where it simply can’t be done anymore. Some things can only be done at certain times; otherwise the opportunity will pass by. Ecclesiastes 3:1 “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” If the trees decide not to grow leaves during the spring; next winter won’t work. It’s either now or wait until next year. But for other things; it’s either now or never. If we walk away from something important, God doesn’t hold it over our heads. It’s not like one mistake will cost you God’s love for the rest of your life; however, it can be very hard for us to forget, especially when we know there is no going back to act on the lost opportunity. As a church we have a great opportunity that has presented itself through the Hope Center. To the best of the leadership’s abilities; they believe this is an opportunity from God, therefore, we must move forward and use the chance while we have it. It may not always be there if we don’t act on it now.

And finally, the rewards that come from NOT leaving anything undone. In other words, doing those very things that you know you should be doing. When we go ahead we continue to progress in life. We’re able to move on to new challenges and lessons instead of staying at the same lesson that we refused to learn. Some choices in life are so big that there’s not much more to be done if we refuse to do the right thing. With the man in the story, there wasn’t any more conversing that he could have had with Jesus. He asked a hard question and received the appropriately hard response. There wasn’t much left for him to do but to either do it, or walk away. So he walked away. Also, it brings peace of mind. There’s nothing quite like knowing you’ve made the best choice and have truly done the right thing. There usually is a cost; but it is worth it. Even in small ways such as having some savings. It costs you to do that. It’s money that you didn’t spend on something else. And I’m sure you could have figured out a way to spend it! However, the peace of mind that comes from even having a small amount set aside is worth it. If you think differently, then you probably haven’t done it, so you wouldn’t know I’m talking about!

And lastly, leaving nothing undone gives you a greater sense of knowing that God is with you. We know it theoretically; however, when we meet a challenge and do it, we know not only in our minds but also in our emotions that God is with us. How would this story have ended had he not left his money test undone? Maybe he would have followed Jesus around for a while. Maybe he would have gone on with his life and went back to his business. Had that been the case, I’m sure he would have left feeling much differently than how he left in the story. It says, “he went away grieving”. That would certainly not have been the end had he chosen differently. He would have left knowing that God was with him in a fresh way.

In closing; think about your life and about some of the decisions you’ve made. A lot of the times we can’t really tell how things would have turned out had we chosen something else. But sometimes, we know exactly how things would have turned out, and it wouldn’t have been as good. Do you have a good marriage? If so, could you have married someone else? Of course, it was a choice you made. But would you still have had as good of a life? Maybe, but maybe not, you don’t know. Are you doing what you know you need to be doing? I think most of the time it’s fairly obvious what we should be doing and so we go about it without giving it much thought. It may not be as direct of a statement as God made with the rich, young man; but obvious to us non-the-less. And for most of life it’s not a moment by moment thing of always wondering if we are making the right choice or not. But from time to time we are confronted with key moments to either do something really good, or bad, or to leave something good undone that we should have done. May God give us the courage to leave nothing undone in our life that needs doing. AMEN.